As usual, I’m behind on my reading. While I was on an airplane this weekend, I came across a piece of the United award changes that I clearly missed. Matthew Klint, who writes Live And Let’s Fly, details the new 8,000 mile one-way award.

Anyway, these awards are for flights 800 miles or less in distance. The only real downside is that you can’t redeem this award for flights in the US. However, in Europe 800 miles casts a pretty wide net. Lufthansa’s Frankfurt and Munich hubs are located within 800 miles of a lot of places you want to go.

Availability looks really good for these award. I searched a bunch of city pairs and dates. Plenty of seats and plenty of dates:

Here’s How I Would Use These Awards

I don’t like to stay in one place when I travel. My wife strongly prefers it. So, my style might not work for everyone. We frequently fly into one European city and out of another on our vacation. We use the train network (when I’m actually smart enough to remember to buy tickets) and the occasional discount airline.

Keeping a stash of miles around for short-haul awards like this represents a great value. Think of this in terms of stringing together a handful of cities on your next trip abroad, for only a few more miles than what it cost you to get to your destination.

Alternatively, if you can’t find round-trip flights to Europe or Asia using miles, think about an open jaw, with one of these 8,000 mile one-way tickets in between. An open jaw is when you fly into one city and out of another. For example, IAD-FRA as your outbound, VIE-IAD on the way back. Draw it on a map and it kinda looks like…..an open jaw.

You May Also Enjoy

Share this Post

About the Author

My goal in life is to fill my family’s passports with stamps, creating buckets of memories along the way. You’ll find me writing about realistic ways for normal people to travel the world, whether you’re on a budget or enjoy luxury. I also enjoy taking us on the occasional detour to explore the inner workings of the travel industry.

Search

Las Vegas has been one of the hardest hit cities in the United States during the COVID-19 crisis. So much of the economy depends on travel and tourism. With unemployment rates in the state reaching 30%, folks in Las Vegas can use a break. One casino owner is helping Vegas make another comeback while also helping people score a cheap vacation. The D Casino, located on Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas, gave away 1,000 free one-way airline tickets yesterday. The giveaway was so popular that Derek Stevens, the owner […]

The COVID-19 crisis has lead to lots of different reactions by government agencies. Hawaii, for one, is not messing around. Yesterday they announced that they had jailed a man who violated the mandatory 14-day quarantine for visitors. They made a point to put out a press release, which has been widely covered in the news. It clearly states the crime, and that the individual, Tarique Peters, had posted pictures of his actions on Instagram. I believe I found the correct Tarique Peters on Instagram: According to CNN, violating the quarantine […]

From time to time, my daughter gets the urge to write a blog post. She was talking about all the places she wants to visit when it’s safe to travel. Next thing I know (without any urging from me) she wrote a blog post about her top 5 places she wants to visit. If you enjoy this post, you can check out some of her previous posts. Without further ado, here you go….. Hi everyone! My name is Cat! You may have heard of me before, for my dad has written […]

We’re stuck inside and it’s time to start dreaming! An African safari has been a dream of mine for some time. Sure, we’ve seen the animals at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. But, we know that’s nowhere close to a true safari. Every time we go to Disney it whets our appetite for that dream trip to Africa. That’s why I tracked down Stefan Krasowski, a well-traveled expert on the region. He’s been on the show with me before, talking about how to plan a safari for under $100 a day. That’s […]

Those low-cost carriers always have very appetizing fare sales. Who wouldn’t want to pay $20 to fly somewhere? But, what does $20 really buy you? I found out exactly what Frontier does (and doesn’t) offer customers on my first flight with them recently.

People talk about how bad the traffic is in places like Los Angeles with plenty of adjectives. And, it is quite bad. But, the traffic in DC is what I refer to as “stealthy bad”. It doesn’t get the same press that LA traffic does, but a trip that normally takes an hour can easily turn into a 3-hour ordeal. With visiting dignitaries, protests and construction as variables, weather can also wreak havoc on a system that consistently backs up during rush hour. For those of us that live in […]

As travel has gotten more stressful the benefits of elite status are even more valuable. In some cases, what used to be free for everyone is now only free for those customers that fly most frequently. I value my American Airlines Executive Platinum status more highly than any status I’ve earned, including 1K service with United Airlines. However, Global Services is another matter. For those not aware, Global Services is an invitation-only status level that United bestows on their best customers. What defines a best customer? Well, United doesn’t list […]

I have to admit, I was pretty pleased with the original announcement that American Airlines was creating bundled pricing that included change fees at a lower apparent cost. Things got a little better when American also announced they were expanding the timeframe you could request a same day change to your flight. And, then things started to get a bit screwy. It started with just one flight I couldn’t get to price right with Choice Plus as an add-on. But, then I did a bit more digging and found out […]

Venture Beat doesn’t think so, and I’m not 100% sure they’re wrong. But, before I discuss the article, a little background on why someone allergic to social media like me became a Foursquare nut. A few years ago, a company called TopGuest came up with this concept where you could earn airline miles and hotel points for checking in at various places on Foursquare. I can’t say I thought it was a terribly good business model, but they convinced a bunch of hotel chains to hand out miles for this. […]